Karieem

 I had the Cancellation email yesterday. One week after payment of the balance!! So yet another wait for a refund. Only just got the refund for 22/04 sailing. I think we should have known before now. 

Oh dear! I wondered if that was the case. Thanks for taking the time to reply so quickly

Please can anyone tell me what wines are in the All-inclusive as I am not partial to New World wines. I prefer European ones. 

Oceania is MUCH better than Azamara (in our opinion). The food is the standout thing really but the Azamara Cruise we went on (Journey June 2015) represented very poor value for money in most respects. There was little or no entertainment TO OUR TASTE so for us it is Oceania any day. A standout negative memory was the sight of one of the officers using the buffet without sanitising his hands. I reported this and was ignored so took his pic. the next time!!

NO CONTEST! Oceania every time! We would not go on Azamara again. Poor value for money and very disappointing.

You will love it!! We had a wonderful time on Preziosa. There were a few children in Yacht Club but we never really noticed them. One squealy little French girl had the potential to be an irritation but her two older brothers were very good at distracting her.

We are recently returned from MSC Preziosa where we were in Yacht Cub. The experience was wonderful and worth every penny (which in our case wasn't a lot as we got an excellent deal!) A Balcony Cabin though not inside- wouldn't even consider an Inside but that is our personal preference.

We will be joining the ship the following day in Marseille, so you won't be alone! Our first trip with MSC for 5 years and our first in Yacht Club so we are looking forward to that!

No of course you can't silly me! Can't actually remember which Cruiseline it was that had a bar service in the theatre. It's been a few years since we went with MSC so a lot of water has flowed around us since then!!

Thankyou for your very quick reply. I thought that might be the case but we can take a drink with us or summon the butler I suppose! We usually struggle to find much for him to do when we have had one previously!

We only changed to Yacht Club yesterday. There has been a reduction in price in the last week so we cancelled our original booking and started again! We are now paying less in YC than we were in a Balcony cabin in the main part of the ship!

I am confused! We are in YC for our December Cruise on Preziosa. I presume we will be able to have drinks ANYWHERE on the ship! Am I wrong? e.g in the theatre or whilst chatting with friends who aren't in Yacht Club.

Have sailed on both suite and non-suite accomodations and have never had a problem, other than a specific time, in getting reservations. If in a suite tell your butler what you want. If not, or the butler can't satisfy your requirements, go meet with the Maitre'd for the specialty restaurants. This has always worked for me, as long as you can be alitle flexibl

 

They intentionally don't fill the restaurant since that would diminish the service.

Ok maybe we weren't pushy enough!! Our butler DID arrange one booking and the other one we did ourselves through the Maitre'd as he happened to be in the Buffet Restaurant at breakfast time.

Some friends we met asked us to join them on another night and we were told Aqualina was full. They sat on their own on a table for 6 and told us that again there were empty tables. Maybe it was just a bit strange on this particular sailing.

Just because I order wagyu beef every time it's offered doesn't mean that the Angus beef filet mignon is terrible, does it?

 

If the specialty restaurant reservations are at no cost but in limited supply, why wouldn't you try to get some if you could? It's the same as those on Azamara suites eating at Prime C or Aqualina every night. Unless you mean to say that the food in Discoveries is bad as well? ;)

 

The recent developments on Oceania make us less eager to book an O cruise (i.e., we are not O cheerleaders) but there's really little point arguing that the food must be bad in the MDR just because everyone tries to get bookings at the specialty restaurants.

 

We like Az and we like O, both have their goods and bads, but we like the food on O more, even in the MDR.

We were in a Suite on the Journey in July and found it almost impossible to get reservations in Aqualina and Prime C. The cynic in me thinks that first choice was given to passengers who had to pay extra rather than those of us who had already paid for the privilege! We managed one in each and on both occasions there were empty tables! We didn't rate either very highly and actually preferred the ambience of the MDR.

We have done a few cruises with Oceania and really like it, but now we have found a cruise with Azamara which suits us well, both in terms of time and price.

 

What differences can one expect between the two?

 

/P

There is absolutely NO CONTEST! Oceania every time! We were frankly quite, no very! disappointed with Azamara. The food on Oceania is the main factor. The choice, the quality and the variety. Our Stateroom/Suite was pretty much identical with excellent service on both. We enjoyed the Azamazing Evening on Journey but the rest of the entertainment was dreadful!

Go but with much lower expectations!

Not been to this port with Azamara but we have with Oceania. Your decision to stay onboard is a sound one!

The TA was on the phone to Azamara at the same time as she was talking to me (on another line obviously!) and Azamara said that BA flights were "out of the budget"! I intend to keep pursuing this.

We are obviously on the previous Cruise which ends at Istanbul. Our Istanbul to Heathrow flights are direct but we have indirect ones to Athens on 11th July. I emailed Azamara and got no response at all. Our Travel Agent contacted them yesterday and they DID offer a direct flight which got into Athens very late on 11/07 so I stuck with the indirect ones. Like you this is the first time in 14 Cruises that we have had this situation! Not very impressed so far! I wonder what sort of detour the transfers will take!!

We have just got our flight times for 11/07/15 LHR to Athens. We are being sent via Munich! I have emailed Azamara but have had no response as yet! Don't think this detour should be necessary as BA have several direct flights a day. Plus the fact that we will be flying out of T2 and back into T5 so no chance of using the T5 Sofitel for easy access. I KNEW we should have stuck with Regent or Oceania!

Hi there! We are sailing on Rotterdam on 22nd December and got our Cabin assignment yesterday. We are where we would have chosen to be so are happy. Maybe you will have yours by now.

Welcome to HAL. Here is a link to dining and beverage menus on board:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/?page_id=908

 

Room Service is 24/7 and free.

 

I will have the Main Dining Room menus for your cruise in December 2014.

I have been trying for 2 days to get this info! Thanks a lot. I feel reassured now that we will be able to get wines to our taste.

Oh that's ok then as there are several on the list that we DO like! I will not specify which of the wines by the glass we don't like as it is just a matter of taste!!

We will probably purchase the Premium package for our cruise in October. Can anyone clarify one point first though. When in the restaurant can you CHOOSE which wine you have by the glass? I have seen a wine list and some of the "by the glass " wines we like and some we definitely don't!!